How to Budget for Your Business's Brand Building

You need to build a brand — but within a budget. When creating your budget for your business's brand creation, you need to take these budget variables into account:

The amount of your own time and expertise you can commit: You may be able to research, define, and determine the assets for your brand yourself.

The extent to which your brand will venture: If your brand will travel far from your home office and therefore will represent you when you’re nowhere to be found, you need to make a sizeable investment in branding.

The business level at which your brand will compete: If you intend to compete with established, well-known, superbly branded companies or organizations, invest in a brand that’s up to the task.

While you assemble your budget, assign costs for each of the following three phases of the branding process:

Strategic development and positioning

This phase involves market research, brand identity research, and development of the positioning and branding strategies you’ll follow to reach the branding success you seek.

Creation of brand identity elements

In this phase, professionals are worth their weight in gold. When it comes to creating, selecting, and protecting your name; designing your logo; devising your tagline; and developing the core marketing materials that will carry your brand into the marketplace, hire the best talent for the job.